Chevy Volt nabs shaky 230 MPG rating, might not ship in 2010
By Darren Murph 
posted August 11th 2009 9:03AM
posted August 11th 2009 9:03AM
Now, for the bad news. This past Sunday, GM reportedly submitted a regulatory filing with the US Treasury, and while it can't be taken as official word per se, it does provide reason to believe that the promised November ship date will slip to an undisclosed month and year. The report also noted that there is "no assurance" that it will qualify for any remaining energy loans to develop advanced fuel technology automobiles, and if you needed more reason to doubt the whole ordeal, have a look at this zinger: "Our competitors and others are pursuing similar technologies and other competing technologies, in some cases with more money available; there can be no assurance that they will not acquire similar or superior technologies sooner than we do." Ah well -- at least we know the four or five prototype models destined for eBay will do Ma Earth proud, right?
Update: CNN has a nice look at this incredibly large MPG figure, and -- surprise, surprise -- it's not nearly as fantastic as it looks at first glance.
Read - Chevy Volt gets "230 MPG" rating
Read - Chevy Volt may be delayed [Via AutoblogGreen]
Well said.
Sadly, I think most people on here don't understand anything about the car business or cars in general.
I work with the Volt communications team and want to comment on the possibility of a delay. First and foremost, there is nothing GM foresees at this time that would result in a delay of the Volt.
The statements in question are posted in the "Risk Factors" section of GM's SEC filing made last Friday. These statements are intended to inform potential investors of risks associated with GM's plans and strategies. The statements are just one small section of the filing - other sections of the filing highlight our plans and intentions to further lead in the electrification of the automobile.
If the idiots at GM didn't kill the electric car to begin with they would have been light years ahead of the competition. Instead they're playing catch-up. Bunch of dumb-ass greedy people who let the marketing department dictate what should be sold. Greedy!
Ok, they did kill electric cars. GET OVER IT, those people are gone, there is a new management.
The first 200 MPG is probably subsidized by the federal government :)
As for long distances, doesn't the gasoline engine basically power a generator to charge the batteries? Electric motors are much more efficient at driving wheels than gas, and why not charge the batteries with the gas - it still has more potential energy by volume than anything else out there.
Hey, it works for diesel trains, why not this?
You've been taught that "liberal = bad" regardless of context.
It seems that it was you who's been played.
How many Miles per Coulomb does this thing get?
Screw you GM, if you could make a FULL-ELECTRIC car OVER 10 YEARS AGO, then why can't you make an even simpler, basically hybrid car now? I'll tell everyone why, it's because you don't give a shit about this kind of stuff, if you did, these would have been on the streets years ago, back when you sold the EV-1, and there would still be people driving EV-1's today. But no, you had to be assholes about it. If nobody knows what I'm talking about, just watch who killed the electric car.
1: shocking the wait for a electric vehicle gets delayed by gm? hmm trend here, nothing new, same news, same shit, different model
2: who gives a shit if its not 230mpg, stop bitching, its an improvement over whats available now, what idoit goes into a dealerhsip believing mpgs are going to be exactly what it says, my shit doesnt get 34 mpg, it gets more like 24, expecialy with real world conditions and my shitty driving.
3. its a whole other discussion of not just this car but all cars and manufactures consistently bullshitting numbers for idiot consumers who actually thing they're gonna get 50mpg in their prius
Much better-looking car than the Prius.
I'm still not buying anything other than internal combustion engines, but it's the best looking hybrid, by far.
If it came from the marketing Dept its total BS!
GM is too f'ing SLOW with this.
For the love of baby Christ, how long has this car been in R&D and testing?
I realize GM isn't used to doing ANYTHING really new, but come on.
Several generations of Prius and Insights have been bought and sold, people have started up their own company building electric roadsters, etc. and GM continues to drag ass with their first real entry.
Then after all this hype and made up preposterous 3-digit mileage ratings they are (eventually?) going to release this car and price it RIGHT the f out of their target market and wonder why it doesn't sell. Great plan.
Oh, by the way, I don't give a damn if a car gets 2000 MPG, if it looks horrible and uninspired, drives like a riding lawnmower, and costs a premium over other normal options with better performance and design they won't have to worry about me buying it.
Well, here's some more interesting news about the Chevy Volt. It can be charged in a really convenient way: http://www.marketnewsvideo.com/?id=200908Volt081109&mv=1 & http://www.e-guru.org/2009/08/11/chevrolet-volt-still-slated-for-production-by-e-b-chuong/
I find there branding poorly thought out. I think most of the people seeing the logo on a billboard or website that aren't geeks or car buffs will only see 23MPG with a smiley face outlet.... not 230MPG. Oh maybe it is because GM is run by the government.
LOL Propaganda from Government Motors. 80% of people drive under 40 miles to work sure. But do 80% of people spend $40,000 on a car? The government stands to lose $10,000 per vehicle sold! That includes the initial sale at a lost and then the rebate on top of that. This project just seems like such a disaster.
"Read me lips no new taxes".
Gov't is running GM. EPA is the Gov't. The Chef is the critic.
TBD release date. Chap 11.
Boy if either GM has the technology or this will be the flaming downfall of one of the biggest companies in history.
At this point, I believe the Volt will get 250mpg, according to some rigged EPA calculation. But it keeps my hopes up such that when they can't meet that number (likely), I as well as other consumers will rain down on GM so hard the gov't will feel the pain.
they'll keep hyping it to get interest up but it still only goes 300 miles per tank not is not worth $40k
I will wait for Daimler (Mercedes) to come out with their own electric car. My round trip from home to work to the gym and back home again is under 40 miles. Can you imagine never having to go to the gas station again? WOW
I would likely keep my gas powered car as a back up in case I do a longer drive to San Diego or Vegas or wherever but still - the idea of maybe only hitting the gas station once a month or less is very attractive!!
Go watch "who killed the electric car? (2006)" and then you'll understand the irony of GM doing R&D on electric vehicles. They should have done this a decade ago but they wanted to run their business into the ground first by trying to cram cars down the throats of people who don't need them.
whoa! with this vehicle i can use it for a month in single charge
I don't know about the rest of you...but I don't feel right spending $+30,000 on a subcompact car. Especially when the same car (space wise) is sold by Nissan for $9,555 brand new.
MediaCurves.com just conducted a study with 300 viewers of a news clip featuring General Motors’ new Chevy Volt. The results showed that 55% of respondents who reported that they were likely to purchase a car in the next year indicated that they would consider the Chevy Volt. For more in-depth results, please visit http://www.mediacurves.com/NationalMediaFocus/J7493-ChevyVolt/Index.cfm.
Thanks,
Ben
Found a lot to desire this car, but I don't see anything being mentioned about the MPG in a mountainous environment.
The car would also be heavy on the battery in a hilly urban (city) environment, say San Francisco, wouldn't get your 40 miles on a single charge there.